The attacks in Paris have made the, at the time proclaimed by Bush, “War on Terror” the predominating theme once again. Not just the state and its security apparatus are going all out under the slogan ”battle against terror” to silence every expression of fundamental opposition against the system, capitalists are now also using this opportunity to cleanse their companies from “radicals” and “extremists”.

A good example of this is the car-group Daimler, which recently closed an agreement with the Gesamtbetriebsrat and IG Metall with the sole purpose to “fight terror”. This agreement specifically referred to the way how and to which extent the Daimler capitalists could cross reference the data concerning the workers from the Daimler establishments to the so-called “terrorlists” made by the United States and the European Union. As was stated in the newspaper Der Spiegel (#2/2015), from now on all 280000 workers active with Daimler, will be checked every three months and their name, address and date of birth will be cross referenced with the data from the lists composed by the EU and/ or US of persons convicted for or suspected of terrorism or “terrorist sympathies”. The same goes for people who are applying for a job at Daimler. If a worker active at Daimler happens to be on one of the so-called “terrorlists”, the person involved will be “fired immediately” and all wage payments (including back pay!) will be terminated. So far the agreement.

Interesting detail: The higher office does not suffer from the spying by the Daimler managing board: An exception is made for them. Apparently this category, opposite to the rest of the Daimler personnel, is not under overall suspicion.

And what does the Gesamtbetriebsrat (works council)say? The chairman of the Gesamtbetriebsrat Jörg Spies has, in his own words, “not a problem at all” with the spying program. Some of it would also be “in the best interest of the employees” according to the chairman of the Gesamtbetriebsrat Spies. (That’s how we know our yes-men)

Currently also Ford has a similar agreement, as a press spokesman confirmed to the magazine “Automobilwoche” just last week. At Ford workers are screened for “terrorism” once a month. (Sources: Der Spiegel 2/2015, Frankfurter Rundschau last 20th of January)

Supplements:

“Fuck Charlie Hebdo”: Resignation looms for works council member

A procedure has been started to exempt a member of the works council (Betriebsrat) of the Daimler factory in Bastatt (Baden-Würhemberg) from his function. The reason; his remarks involving the attacks in Paris. In unison the Daimler-board, works council and the union leadership (IG Metall) have started a procedure to dismiss the involved member of the works council from his position.

The person involved is said to have made the following remark on his own Facebook page: “Every person has to be held accountable for his own actions! One person sooner than the other… Fuck Charlie Hebdo!”

(Source: Frankfurter Rundschau last 24th of January)

The cleansing of militant fellow workers from the companies is clearly at full blast! The capitalists can, as always, completely count on the actual support of the reactionary Union bureaucracy.

Bremen: Dismissals in the port

Unload workers, who are hired one day at the time by the Gesamthafenbetriebsverein (GHBV) in Bremen, have to be able to hand over a Führungszeugnis (Certificate of good conduct). Persons who have a notification in their Führungszeugnis (from either the police or the justice department) will no longer acquire a job. This also goes for the fellow workers who have been working for the ‘Personaldienstleister für Hafen & Logistik’ for over ten years. So far, more than a hundred fellow workers have lost their jobs this way. All fellow workers are evoked to refuse to hand over their Führungszeugnis, pleading the verdict of the Bundesarbeitsgericht dd. 13 November 2012.

Under AZ: 6 AZR 339/11 it has been determined that the entrepreneur has “no legitimate interest” in the retrieval of information concerning the closed criminal cases of the employees, that do not directly relate to their duty.

Several fellow workers who until recently carried out the maintenance at the nuclear plant in Doel (Belgium) are no longer allowed entrance to the plant. This does not concern staff from Elektrabel. The people involved work for a subcontractor of Elektrabel. According to our information it concerns fellow workers from whom their politicial background raises questions about their trustworthy (pertaining to the bosses) as well as fellow workers who couldn’t give a waterproof alibi for the day on which last summer there was a sabotage action at the plant. So far, a total of about thirty fellow workers are denied entrance to the plant at Doel 4. (Source: VTM-News last 5th of January)